CHAPTER SEVEN

 

 

 

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“What are you doing?” Maxi asked as she stalked out onto the porch and found Bree muttering to herself as she twisted what looked like a strand of hair around her index finger.

Bree snapped a look in her friend’s direction, and she frowned as she dropped her hand to her side.“Me?” Bree tried for innocent and couldn’t pull it off.

“No, the man in the moon,” Maxi snapped back.

“Good eyesight,” Bree said, looking to the sky where the moon was just coming into view in the remnants of the day.

 “I won’t be distracted,” Maxi said. She knew only too well how her friend played the game, and she wasn’t falling for it. She tossed her hands onto her hips and waited.

“So, I take it your mate is a real stud in bed?” Bree said and noted the faraway look of distraction in her friend’s eyes.

“Well…” Maxi started. Then she mentally slapped herself around the back of the head and gave herself a kick up the backside. She’d been distracted. “Not the point…”

“So, a disappointment?” Bree said with a look of sympathy and downcast eyes.

“No, he’s not!” Maxi snapped back and then realize that she’d been distracted again. “Bree!” Maxi bit out in annoyance.

“I got you twice,” Bree said, as she brought her gaze back up to Maxi with a big wide grin of victory.

“Spill!” Maxi demanded. She folded her arms, set her determination level not to be distracted again on super high willpower mode, and waited for her friend to give up the goodies.

Bree sighed. “Oh, fine,” she grumbled as she rolled her eyes skyward and prepared to fess up. She knew her race was run and Maxi was in stubborn mode. She held up her index finger and shrugged.

“That had better not be one of mine,” Maxi bit out in annoyance at the sight of the hair twisted around the tip.

“What do you take me for?” Bree tossed back.

“Let’s not go there — I value our friendship too much,” Maxi said, enjoying the small victories that she could claim against her friend.

Bree snorted. “It’s not one of yours — it’s red’s.”

“Who’s red?” Maxi asked, and it Bree hooked a thumb over her shoulder back at the house. “Kelly?”

Bree shrugged again. She could see that Maxi was confused and trying desperately to work things out, just by the way that the witch fidgeted on her feet, and questioned everything with a hard glare. “Explain,” Maxi demanded.

“I just thought…”

“That would be a first.”

“Do you want to hear this?” Bree shot back. Maxi nodded. “Wouldn’t it be fun if the alpha had two witches in his pack?”

Maxi’s mouth opened as her jaw slowly dropped downward toward her chest. She eyed Bree from under her long lashes as she slowly drew a deep breath into her lungs, and Bree knew her friend was getting ready to go in to bat. “Bree…”

“Look on the bright side; you’d have a conspirator to play with when I’m not here.” Bree cut her off in the hope of easing her annoyance.

“No, that’s not a bright side…”

“Oh, jealous much? You want to be the only witch in the pack?” Bree tossed back.

“What?” Maxi’s voice went up the pitch or two.

Bree grimaced. “I didn’t realize you were so predatory — must be rubbing off from the beta.”

Maxi changed her stance and lifted her hand to point an accusing finger at her friend. “That’s not…”

“Well, if that’s the way you want it,” Bree said, starting to unwind the strand of hair from around her finger.

The only trouble was — Bree might have been unwinding the hair, but she wasn’t unwinding the spell. Not that Maxi noticed because she was too busy huffing and muttering under her breath.

Bree smiled to herself — and that was how you distracted Maxi.

 

 

~

 

 

 

Kelly felt the strangest feeling wash over her. It was as if something magical had tested her wards and the cloak of her shield that she’d woven tightly around her body and was guarding her true scent with a mixture of other flowery things from nature that hid it well – well, we enough, unless someone was determined to sniff like an idiot, and she thought she’d notice that.

Kelly tested her magic and found it still easily accessible as she tossed the inner door closed and heard a thud and a deep groan of annoyance from the other side. She grimaced and thought about hightailing it out of the room before she had to face whoever was on the other side of that door, but hesitation was her worst enemy, and the door was tossed back open before she could move.

There he stood, six foot odd of angry alpha filled the doorway, and she winced. “Whoops?” Kelly offered and got a grunt back in reply. “Perhaps you should be more careful…”

“I’m not even going to dignify that with an answer,” Mason grumbled.

“Closed subject then,” Kelly shrugged. “Much like the door.”

“Why are you still here?”

“Such a gracious host…”

“To an unwelcome witch – yes,” he grumbled back.

Mason’s beast rumbled a growl of warning to the alpha. Ever since he’d met the witch, his beast had been unsettled. It was little wonder – witches weren’t his favorite thing right then, and he wanted her gone.

Now the beast was just being plain annoying. It was urging the alpha to take her scent from the air, probably due to the fact that the beta had a new mate and the beast was reminded of his duty to search for theirs.

He wasn’t willing to do that. Witches were nothing but trouble, and he didn’t want one as a mate.

No. He’d see hell freeze over before that happened. He’d prefer to go rogue.

“Alpha, I’ve got a bone to pick with you,” the vampire announced with glee as he shot into the room, laid eyes on the witch that turned a dark, menacing glare on him, and shot his hand out in front of him to ward the witch off doing anything they might both regret. “It can wait.”

“Oooooh!” Kelly lifted her hand, palm, outward toward the vampire, and a heartbeat later he’d steamrollered the alpha out of the doorway and was gone. “Damn it!” She stomped a pointy-toed boot on the floor in annoyance.

In the vampire’s rush to exit the room and be free of the witch’s wrath, Jai had inadvertently elbowed the alpha in the ribs. Mason felt that blow like a sledgehammer, heard a small pop of bone, and doubled over with pain as all the air was sucked out of his lungs.

A fresh wave of pain went through him, and he drew in a deep breath through his mouth and his nose — definitely without thinking of the consequences. His beast rallied within him and caught him off guard.

Every muscle, every sinew, every part of his body tensed with knowing that scent. He may have been doubled over, but his head snapped back on his neck, his darkening eyes locked onto the witch in front of him, and a low, deep growl rumble through his chest, got caught in his throat and finally found its way toward her.

“Don’t look at me with those accusing puppy eyes — I didn’t do it!” Kelly snapped back as she tossed her balled up fists onto her curvy hips, tipped her head to one side, and dared him to say that she was at fault for his little mishap.

“Mine…” he growled back.